You shouldn’t count on sunscreen to provide complete sun protection. Infants, children and adults should try to wear a wide-brimmed hat while outdoors to protect the face, neck and ears from sunburn and potential skin cancer. There is always a constant battle to get my 2 and 3-year-old to wear their hats. So, after much trial and error I am going to share some ways that I get my kids to wear their hats and I hope they work for you too! (Below is a pic of Rhonda’s youngest son)
- Persistence; Even if your child refuses to wear their hat and no matter what you do, they keep throwing it off. Then just keep putting it back on. At some point someone will give up the battle. Just make sure it isn’t you!
- Take them hat shopping! Hopefully, if they pick out the coolest or prettiest hat themselves they are more likely to wear it.
- Have you heard of “hat training“? What the heck–I’ll try anything once! Here’s what you do: Introduce your child to hats early. As early as 2-3 months (when your child can hold his/her head up well), start putting a hat on your baby for 15-30 minutes at a time. Try to find hats without large brims or bills for early use, as these will have less tendency to obscure baby’s view. Finally, don’t make it a battle of wills – if baby resists or cries, remove the hat and try again later, for only short periods at a time. Eventually, your baby will learn to be comfortable in their hat and grow into a child that loves to wear their hat!
- Let your child make and decorate their own hat! Go to the craft store and buy a plain hat for your child to color with fabric markers and paint (instructions here), make a homemade foam hat, or you can find kits for “paint your own hats” online or in stores.
- If all else fails…then you might be forced to pull the Santa card. I know. I know. I had to do it a few days ago, but all I can say is that it worked! Faith and Journey both refused to wear their hats on the walk home from the park that day. So, I told them that Santa said if they didn’t wear their hats, then they wouldn’t get any presents. (Bad, I know!) Well, Faith let me put her hat back on and Journey quickly said she wanted to wear her hat too. Hey, sometimes a Mom’s got to do what a Mom’s got to do!
If you have any suggestions or tips that you use then let me know in the comment section. I always love to learn new tricks!